Wildcats capitalize on turnovers, pull away from Pioneer for 32-13 win
MISSION — Weslaco East defeated Sharyland Pioneer Thursday night at Richard Thompson Stadium 32-13 in a non-district game.
The Wildcats (2-2) played solid defense, had takeaways and fourth-down stops that led to points which was the big difference Thursday night in the Wildcats’ win over the Diamondbacks (2-2).
Sharyland Pioneer had some late fourth-quarter hope when junior running back Cole Scurlock broke loose for a 66-yard touchdown run with nine minutes left in the fourth, that made it 32-13. A stop and score could have made it a two-possession game, but the Wildcats killed the entire clock with a nine-minute drive to win the game.
“It was a hard-fought win. First off, Pioneer is a very well-coached team. Overall, there is some things we have to fix with our team. I felt like early their was some execution problems that we are going to have to fix, but overall I like how we came out in the second half and executed when we needed to, to finish this game.”
Weslaco East was only up 18-6 at the half, but the Wildcats started their first possession of the second half with great field position and would go on to score after seven plays with a short run by running back Jay Herrera. That made the score 26-6 after the Wildcats made the two-point conversion.
Herrera would score his second touchdown and make it 32-6 after the Diamondbacks and Wildcats exchanged fumbles. Weslaco East would take over at the 14 and Herrera would go in from close, but he deserved the short touchdown runs after hard running the entire game.
Sharyland Pioneer had hope after going down 18-0 in the second quarter when senior playmaker Alec Chapa broke a tackle on a kick-off return and took it to the house to make it 18-6. Chapa was causing the Wildcats’ defense problems.
Sharyland Pioneer turned the ball over on downs or gave the ball away on every drive in the first half. The Diamondbacks defense did keep them in the game as long as they could. They were on the field for most of the game. The Diamondbacks defense was tackling hard and they had a nice interception in the second quarter by senior safety Isaac Rios.
“Can’t win games with that many turnovers,” Sharyland Pioneer head coach Eddie Galindo said. “They have a great club. I knew they were a physical ball club. When you give a team like that opportunities, extra opportunities to have the ball. They are going to take advantage and they took advantage tonight, hats off to them.”
Weslaco East scored three touchdown before Chapa’s house call. Wildcats quarterback Noah Mesa scored from close on the first drive, Dereck Salinas recovered a fumble and scored to make it 12-0 and Devon Burnias had a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 18-0.
Sharyland Pioneer will look to bounce back against red hot La Joya Juarez-Lincoln next Thursday at 7 p.m. in La Joya. That will be in District 16-5A DII. Weslaco East will face Brownsville Rivera in District 15-5A DI on Friday at 7 p.m. at home in Weslaco.
